If you watch it in its native aspect you will have black bars because it was released in it's original "scope" aspect vs. 16:9. On the SD dvd it is letterboxed into widescreen and this is the widescreen edition they released.

Also I watched the standard definition DVD not the HDDVD. So how about a little apples to apples comparison? Now if you want to say that well duh the SD DVD will have artifacts, well sure, but this was far from an artifact here and there. You sit watching the grain flicker constantly. Totally annoying film. This DVD sucked and aspect was not the issue. I watched it on my LCD as well and it looked awful there too.

I finally got around to watching the movie on BD. I liked it very much. They did a great job making a graphic novel come to life (I haven't seen the paper version). I didn't mind the slo-mo scenes nor the "body by jake" look on everybody. It was quite obvious the movie was never meant to be accurate.

I didn't mind the slo-mo scenes nor the "body by jake" look on everybody.

"Tonight we do some sit-ups!"

"This is where we do crunches!"

Quote:

Originally Posted by PooperScooper

It was quite obvious the movie was never meant to be accurate.

Exactly. It's a story handed down from person to person in exaltation of the 300 and as a rallying cry to an entire society. Truth becomes lore, lore becomes myth, and myth becomes legend, as told to us in the film.

Those that didn't enjoy the dialogue or thought scenes were unrealistic simply didn't get it.

I finally got around to watching this one. Definitely not realistic, and I was also put off a bit by the 'zero body fat, steel six pack' thing, but it certainly made for more of a comic book vibe. I definitely liked the oracle and would like to consult with her often. I guess it would be stunning in HD.

As unrealistic as it is, the story is so fundamental and it still managed to get to me a bit, though it's impossible for Hollywood to do a true tragedy anymore, so they couldn't leave it at what I thought would have been the better ending.

Everybody is referring to the graininess of this movie. I was watching it last night (SD DVD upconverted to 720p) and noticed in the very black scenes, some blue horizontal flickering/pixelation. (I described it HERE).

Is this what everyone is referring to? If so, that's great! I thought for sure my HT system was creating that problem somehow.

Everybody is referring to the graininess of this movie. I was watching it last night (SD DVD upconverted to 720p) and noticed in the very black scenes, some blue horizontal flickering/pixelation. (I described it HERE).

Is this what everyone is referring to? If so, that's great! I thought for sure my HT system was creating that problem somehow.

No. The movie had a fair amount of "film grain" (I don't know if it was shot on film or what but it had that "look"). How did calibrate your LCD to match the player output? (which should be discussed in your thread in the DVD player forum).

I watched this tonight on Bluray. I also thought it was a stellar transfer. I didn't think I would like it much as I had seen comparisons to "Sin City" which I didn't care for. I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed "300" very much.

This finially cleared my Netflix queue this week and I watched it in BD the other night. I wasn't expecting much as this isn't the type of movie I normally watch, but was pleasantly surprised, I'd rated it 3 on Netflix's scale, maybe even 3.5.

One thing I couldn't decide was whether the actors were really of such limited ability or whether the level of acting was in keeping with 300's graphic novel roots.